Sports

Hot Topics:

College Sports

Blowout of Bluejays puts Bears in Sweet 16

By Jim VertunoThe Associated Press

Posted:
03/24/2014 12:01:00 AM MDT

Rico Gathers #2 of the Baylor Bears pulls down a rebound against Avery Dingman #22 of the Creighton Bluejays during the third round of the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the AT&T Center on March 23, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas. (Ronald Martinez, Getty Images)

SAN ANTONIO — Isaiah Austin and Brady Heslip each scored 17 points and the Baylor Bears shut down Creighton star Doug McDermott with suffocating defense, ending the career of one of college basketball's most prolific scorers with an 85-55 win Sunday night in the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Baylor's size and speed overwhelmed the third-seeded Bluejays (27-8) and their national scoring leader, earning a third trip to the Sweet 16 since 2010.

McDermott finished with 15 points, but he had only three in the first half as Baylor built a 20-point lead. McDermott ranks fifth on the NCAA career scoring list.

The rest of the West bracket may want to pay attention to this one. A team that looked like a wreck in January with a 2-8 start in the Big 12 is now headed to Anaheim, Calif., brimming with confidence to match all the muscle in its lineup.

In Baylor's two previous trips to the Sweet 16, it fell one win short of the Final Four.

McDermott, who carried the Bluejays to the round of 32 for the third year in a row, had done it in spectacular style, leading the nation in scoring with a sublime shooting touch and uncanny knack to slither his way through defenders for layups and putback baskets.

McDermott spurned the chance to turn pro after last season. This was the year the Bluejays and their senior-laden lineup were expected to drive deeper into the NCAA Tournament than any other Creighton team before them.

Missy Franklin, Jenny Simpson, Adeline Gray and three other Colorado women could be big players at the 2016 Rio OlympicsWhen people ask Missy Franklin for her thoughts about the Summer Olympics that will begin a year from Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, she hangs a warning label on her answer.